A GANG member seen running away from a road ambush with a knife sticking out of his back has been jailed.

At Minshull Street Crown Court six men were found guilty of violent disorder in Bury and a further two admitted committing the offences which involved the use of an axe, hammer and knife.

Seven of the men have been jailed for up to three and a half years following a two week trial and an eighth, Ziggy Cawley, aged 23, of Rollesby Close, Bury, will be sentenced for the crime, along with other offences he committed, on May 26.

The jury heard how police were called by frightened members of the public to Walmersley Road, Bury, at its junction with Chesham Road at around 10pm on January 29 last year.

Cars had crashed into each other and a group of around 10 men were fighting with weapons.

The court was told how one man, later identified as James Waites, was seen by officers fleeing the scene with a knife still in his back and having suffered four stab wounds.

Other members of the gangs were also injured, with Adam Cartwright sustaining a stab wound to his chest and Samuel Sambrook a deep gash to his forearm. Joshua Cartwright drove himself to Fairfield Hospital with a stab wound to his abdomen and Luke Cartwright was driven to the hospital with a fractured right foot.

The street brawl is thought to have started after Jack Tanham complained he had been assaulted by “Asian males from the Walmersley area of Bury” – the same men who allegedly assaulted Luke Cartwright the month before.

On the evening of January 29 Khyam Karshid was driving a VW Bora with Ziggy Cawley as a passenger when witnesses saw it being chased up Walmesley Road by a Seat Leon.

In an ambush the Bora was then “boxed in” by the Seat and a white car at the junction with Chesham Road.

Luke Cartwright then got out of the Seat and began smashing the Bora’s windows with a baseball bat.

Witnesses told of their “fear, terror and horror” at seeing men surrounding the car brandishing weapons such as an axe, knives and a hammer.

Karshid then drove the Bora away from the trap before turning round and ramming into the side of the Leon, pushing the car sideways and trapping Luke Cartwright’s foot.

Members of the public said they were “alarmed and terrified”, including one witness who spoke of pushing her 12-year-old foster child’s head down so that she would not witness everything unfolding.

After the fight there was telephone contact between the two sides, which the prosecution believe was an attempt to negotiate a truce or obstruct the police investigation.

In court Judge Bernadette Baxter, who sentenced seven of the men of violent disorder, said: “This is an offence of public disorder in which you all participated and could have stopped at any time.

“What is certain is that there was a degree of planning prior to the incident evidenced by the fact that there was contact between the parties.”

Adam Cartwright, 33, of Priory Place, Bolton, and Jack Tanham, 25, of Bolton Road, Radcliffe, were found guilty after trial and jailed for three and a half years.

Joshua Cartwright, 23, and Luke Cartwright, 25, both of Coleridge Avenue, Radcliffe, were given the same sentences after also being found guilty.

Judge Baxter, said: “The level of pre-mediation and planning, timing and location of the offences, the attempt to dispose of weapons and your previous convictions has given me no option but to impose the sentences."

Volkswagen driver, Khayam Ali Khurshid, 24, of Walmersley Road, Bury, and James Waites, 24, of Westminster Avenue, Radcliffe, were both handed three year sentences after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.

Judge Baxter said: “I am giving you both some credit for pleading guilty at an earlier date.

"For this reason, along with your previous good character I am giving you more leniency."

Samuel Sambrook, 25, of Byron Avenue, Bury, was also found guilty after a trial and was jailed for three years.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Baker, of GMP’s Bury borough, said: “The sentence has taken these violent criminals off the streets of Greater Manchester.

“This was a shocking fight between two rival gangs and I hope that this result makes it clear that we are committed to dismantling these organised crime groups and will not tolerate those who make a living out of crime.”